The Surprise
by totallyrobbieandlaura
Summary: I basically had to write a descriptive writing piece for GCSE English, so I decided to use the characters from Lewis...


The Surprise

I wore jeans, a blouse and a cardigan for my 50th birthday party. Not very attractive, I know. When I look back at the photos, I think "Oh my God, what on earth do I look like here?!" Well, what do you expect from a woman who's just come in from work after examining corpses nearly all day? Or the correct term for it, a pathologist? I didn't have time to change or even make myself up because of Robbie, my other half, surprising me like that! He says I looked absolutely fine anyway. Well, if I looked fine to him, then that's all I care about. I enjoyed every single minute of that night. One of the best.

Oxfordshire Police Station. I could hear the sound of inspectors and sergeants chatting amongst themselves, as I walked into the CID's Incident Room. I could see officers clutching folders and files, going from one place to the other. DC Alex Gray smiled at me as I ambled past him and headed towards Robbie's office.

"Hiya love," Robbie said. We were both so pleased and relieved to see one another's faces, after I had been attending to some rather mangled bodies and Robbie had been working through heaps of paperwork.

"Hello stranger," I replied back. "Work been OK?"

I leant on the wooden door frame in his office. The signs on the door read "DI Hathaway", "DI Lewis" and "DS Maddox", all neatly placed under one another. Robbie had demanded that he have one of his own, now he had officially been brought back into the force from retirement. As a matter of fact, his and Lizzie's were much more pristine and immaculate, much to James' dismay. He's always been a moaner.

Robbie took a deep breath and leant back in his chair, taking a sip of his freshly-made coffee. The smell lingered in the air, making me want one myself.

"Aye, the usual. Filing and paperwork. You?"

He took a moment to think about what he just said. He knew quite well what I had been doing. It was just polite to ask. Bless him.

"Bodies, filing and paperwork. The normal routine I go through every day."

I saw the incandescent look on his face, as his blue eyes glistened under the office light. I wanted him all to myself. He got up from his black, shiny leather-coated chair and headed towards me.

"Ready to head home? It's been a long day."

As he approached me, the captivating and flavourable smell of his aftershave allured me to him, making me feel as if it was just me and him alone together. We were away from the rest of the world.

"If you're ready, then I'm ready."

I reassured him earlier in the day that I wouldn't mind if he had to work late, although I could see from the amount of largely stacked folders on his desk that he'd got through the paperwork quite efficiently, so there was no real worry that I'd spend my 50th on my own at home.

He grabbed his grey blazer jacket from the back of the creaky chair, and took my hand in his. I could feel the hard work and effort he had put into the day from his hands - they were warm and clammy. I could see the thoughts and feelings of the working day just slip away from his mind, as he looked down and gleamed at me.

A few of the officers nodded us goodbye as we left the Incident Room. As we invaded the main reception, there was a substantial amount of people waiting to be enquired about their issues. Robbie was about to divert to see what the situation was, but DI Alan Peterson stopped his tracks and satisfied him.

"Leave it Robbie," he said. Alan indicated to the large group of people. "I'll sort it. You take this lovely lady of yours home."

"Thanks mate."

Robbie gave him a pleasant, but etched look. They had never really got on with each other before, but ever since I and Robbie started our relationship, they've become good friends.

"Oh and Happy Birthday Laura."

"Thank you," I replied. I gave him a smile that was sincere.

We finally reached outside, both of us feeling the cold winter breeze sending chills right through our bodies. He sauntered me to his car, both of us walking in unison. Mine was at home, as I didn't feel the need of bringing it to work. He knew he wouldn't be emergently called out to a crime scene that day, so he brought me to work instead.

"I didn't see James or Lizzie at work today," I implied.

We were now half way through the journey going back home. I could see that the dark night sky had become obscured with a deep haze of mist and fog, the red from the traffic light lurking through just enough to see.

"No, Innocent let them clock off early. One of her better moods."

"Come on Robbie, she's not that bad. She's going through a rough time at the minute, what with her divorce and everything."

I saw the doleful look on his face. He respected Jean Innocent a lot. Not just as a superior, but as a friend. I caressed his knee, just to hearten him a little.

Soon enough, we arrived home. Seeing our appointed and snug house as we pulled into the drive made us feel a sense of delight and joy coming our way - a nice quiet evening without the interruption of any phone calls or knockers at the door.

I took the house keys from my brown leather jacket and we both made our way to the front door. As I turned the lock and opened the door by its frigid handle, I saw six familiar faces - ones that I saw nearly every day, standing in the hallway.

"Surprise!"

I was completely out struck and mesmerised by what had just happened. All these people had put in the effort to be there for my birthday, my friends and family – the people I loved. I could see that everyone had dressed up especially for the occasion, and there was me in a blouse, jeans, a cardigan, a scarf and a leather jacket. You could say I was the "odd one out". Although, Robbie was still in his work gear so I wasn't that put out by the whole thing.

Robbie's daughter Lyn and her boyfriend Tim, who I both adored so much, had come down especially from Manchester to see me. They were the first people to greet me, both of which gave me a peck on the cheek and a hug.

"Happy Birthday Laura."

"Oh Lyn, it's so wonderful to see you!" I said, hugging her back. I could feel the tenderness of the hug go through me, making me feel warm, following the winter chill from outside.

"It's so wonderful to see you too. It's been too long. Far too long."

"And you Tim," I exclaimed, finally releasing Lyn and now going to hug him.

"Happy Birthday Laura."

His accent now appeared slightly Mancunian, but I could still hear the good old Oxford accent in there.

They both went on to greet Robbie, who was just as chuffed as I was to see them. Meanwhile, next to address me was Robbie's boss, Jean.

"Happy Birthday dear!"

Me and Jean were never really that close, but I still class her as one of my friends. We often go out on nights out together, if we're not too busy with work. Anyway, she had actually managed to scrub up pretty well. Let's face it, she looked better than me. As she came over, I noticed the dazzling emerald green earrings I had bought for _her _50th. To match, she was wearing a gorgeous green lace dress, with black stilettos. She opened her arms for me to embrace in a hug.

"Thank you Jean," I replied, walking over. "You look divine!"

"Ah well, I try my best," she answered. The tone of her voice sounded relaxed and calm.

Following on from Jean, I exchanged kisses and hugs with Lizzie and James. Lizzie looked like a goddess – absolutely beautiful. She wore a black jumpsuit, topped off with some suede heeled ankle boots, which showed off her statuesque beauty. James and Tony, Lizzie's husband, looked rather dashing too.

A few hours had passed, and everyone was literally gone out of their heads. Jean had challenged me to a competition, to see who could down the most shots of vodka. Of course, it was me who won, but we had such a great laugh. I was in my element – we all were.

Robbie had gone over to put a vinyl on the record player. I couldn't really see which one he had chosen, but the first track that came on was Michael Bublé's Close Your Eyes. This was our favourite song.

"May I offer you this dance?"

I took his hand graciously and gave him an affectionate smile. I closed my eyes and relished the moment for as long as I could. Nights like this would probably never be, what with work and everything. From the corner of my eye, I could see that the others were watching in awe. It felt like we were in a ballroom, minus the pretty gown and glitter ball.

Jean gathered us all round, as she wanted to make a speech. She's very good at speeches. She's done it nearly all her life, although in much sadder circumstances. When she started delivering it, I could feel my eyes begin to fill with entire emotion. What she said was absolutely lovely – it completely warmed my heart. I could see her flick a few tears away as she gave it. It was gentle and tender.

We all assembled together for a few pictures. Most of them were quite hysterical, because we all had had too much to drink. There was one I managed to get a sparkly and exquisite frame for, which is now placed on the mantelpiece.

Lyn and Tim were due to fly back to Manchester the next day and of course they were too drunk to travel back to The Randolph, the hotel they were staying at, so they stopped the night at ours. James and Jean fell asleep on the sofa, so they were there for the night, whilst Tony and Lizzie headed home in a taxi. We all felt completely haggard and hungover the next morning though, and being at work didn't help. But overall, it was an exceptional and brilliant night.


End file.
